470-bed Gloucester Development Moves Forward

Plans to develop Gloucester's Blackfriars quarter have taken a step forward with additional plans being submitted to Gloucester City Council.

The Barbican car park in Ladybellegate street could be developed into a complex able to accommodate 470 bedrooms for students under plans from the University of Gloucestershire.

Although the plans are still at an early stage, the university's partner Cityheart Partnerships is currently working on the designs for the project.

The latest application submitted to the council outlines that the apartments would be built in two phases, with phase one consisting of 300 bedrooms and the remaining 170 being built in phase two. The student accommodation development would also include landscaping works to the area.

It's hoped that the development would be ready in 2018, coinciding with the opening of the University of Gloucestershire's new business centre in the Oxstalls Campus in Gloucester.

According to the developers the new development would provide a boost to both the day and night time economies of Gloucester due to the substantial increase in the number of students in the city.

Councillor Paul James, suggested that to complete the development on time both the developers and the council would need to work at a considerable pace. Mr James said: "When we set out the Blackfriars vision, student accommodation was a big part of that. We want to make sure students will live in the city centre because of the benefits it will bring to the day time and evening economy.

"It has been the intention to develop the Barbican area for decades. It's a significant step forward."

The University of Gloucestershire will relocate its Business School to Oxstalls and integrate it with the Growth Hub, which is expected to increase the number of students studying at Oxstalls by around 2,000 from 2018. Additional student housing is therefore seen as crucial for both the Oxstalls campus and the city.